Buck Pierce still has strong Winnipeg presence
Business, community involvement
WINNIPEG — The business plan undertaken by Buck Pierce that will be most evident tonight might not work exactly as it was designed, but the B.C. Lions still hope it can be beneficial.
The ideal scenario is for Pierce, the backup to starting quarterback Thomas DeMarco, to come off the bench as planned and toss a touchdown or two in tonight’s game with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, the CFL team that traded him two weeks ago.
Patrons of the 2-10 Bombers have become quite familiar with how to deal with the effect of repeated losses in their first season at Investors Group Field. One such method is for fans to retreat to the concourse and throw back an adult beverage or three at one of two bar kiosks co-owned by the quarterback who hopes to help his team to a second straight road win.
For Pierce, a perfect night would be for anyone connected with the ongoing demolition of the Bombers to walk by the kiosk and glare at the smiling face of the guy they felt wasn’t good enough for them after four seasons.
But the return of Pierce is not just the standard tale of a player with something to sell or wanting revenge, as it is clear there’s a considerably stronger connection between the transformed Californian and his adopted home.
An accurate portrait won’t be complete when he feeds his new teammates and hangs up some Lions swag today at Buck’s Sports Lounge, the airport-area barbecue restaurant that first became part of his business plan when he was a contributing member of the Bombers last year.
To really understand the relationship, it would be better to come back during middle of winter to discover the place where Pierce found a life he never had upon breaking in with the Lions.
“Winnipeg is Buck,” said Joey Elliott, another Lions quarterback who knows the place well, having started for Winnipeg when B.C. visited here last season. “It’s a perfect fit. Hard-nosed, bluecollar guy, works his butt off; that’s Buck Pierce.”
It is here where Pierce can be found when Easter Seals Manitoba needs someone to decorate umbrellas for a charity drive, or when Winnipeg Harvest requires a volunteer for a fundraising spaghetti-eating competition.
When a former Winnipeg teammate, Chris Cvetkovic, went to Mexico to help rescue stray dogs and cats last winter, Pierce was there. When the University of Winnipeg needed someone to work with inner-city kids, they didn’t have to ask.
It’s no surprise that a month after joining the Bombers prior to the 2010 season, Pierce met his fiancée and set in motion plans for a May wedding. He has enough business reasons to maintain a relationship with a city that has embraced him, but Pierce sounds genuine when he says his job in life is to help beyond assisting DeMarco to read the Bombers defence.
“The reason I’m a football player is because it gives me a pedestal to reach other people and use my voice,” said Pierce. “Honestly, that’s the reason. It gives me a chance to give back.”
Making a decision to settle down is life-altering and the connection being made by Pierce is being studied carefully by a Winnipeg product whom the Lions would clearly not want to lose, tailback Andrew Harris.
The idea of playing for his hometown Bombers, which couldn’t happen until after the 2014 season, has some appeal, Harris admitted, particularly because of his own involvement in a variety of causes.
“Winnipeg is really community oriented. You get involved in one thing and it kind of snowballs,” said Harris, who showed his young daughter around the Bombers’ stadium at the Lions walk-through.
But Vancouver has its strong points as well for Harris, who said he might spend the upcoming winter for the first time in warmer weather.
“I need to make some decisions to better my life after football,” said Harris.
Pierce already has his plan, both in business and in life. But though he has openly pitched for future involvement with the Bombers, he is still capable of grasping differences between both of the teams who have dumped him in his career.
“It’s a professional mindset here,” he said of the Lions. “I came from a place where I was one of the older guys. You can tell there’s some veteran leadership. Everybody has such accountability here.”